He Was a Faithful Man and Feared God Above Many
My first contact with brother Taylor was in 1945 shortly after I was saved in Toronto where he had meetings in several assemblies. I was impressed with his stirring ministry and love for the local assembly and its teaching. He encouraged the saints to attend the conference in Deseronto where he lived and labored in that eastern Ontario area.
Our first conference there was in 1948 and I got to know him and his family. I appreciated his interest as he encouraged us to go on for God. Shortly thereafter, he invited me to join him and Timothy Kember in a tent series in Milford, Ontario, and thus began a long and lasting relationship with Mr. Taylor and Timothy Kember.
His exercise took him to Prince Edward County where he and Timothy labored in the gospel and saw the Picton assembly planted. They, with the help of others, built the first little Hall that was the assembly’s “home” for years.
When we were exercised in serving the Lord in full-time service, he encouraged us in the eastern part of Ontario. After Eunice and I were commended to the work of the Lord and joined Timothy Kember in the Arden area, Mr. Taylor helped us a great deal. He had us assist him in making his chart, “The Church and the Churches of God.” At that time we were traveling to Deseronto to remember the Lord at his home assembly and got to know him better and shared meetings there. He loved the gospel and was respected among the saints.
His interest in attending conferences in Ontario and USA included taking younger men with him and he took us along. His discernment and forth-rightness were manifest in his ministry as a faithful servant of the Lord. Many will remember his words of exhortation and teaching that established them in assembly truths.
Over the 62 years we have known and been associated with him, we have found him to be consistent in his convictions and preaching. His dear wife Regina was a real “help-meet” and he missed her greatly after her passing in 1977. His health was affected by two heart attacks and a stroke over the years. A car accident crippled him in recent years, but the Lord raised him up many times. He saw the hand of the Lord in all this and enjoyed Romans 8:28. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.”
During his last stay in the hospital, having had his broken hip replaced, he found many opportunities to witness to the medical staff about his Lord and about being ready for heaven. His mind was very clear and he had a keen interest in the work of the Lord and the local assembly meetings right up to the day of his passing on July 4, 2007, in his 101st year.
He will be greatly missed by his son John, his daughter Joan, his son-in-law Percy, as well as the saints of the Deseronto and Phoenix assemblies. The esteem in which the believers held him was evident when many gathered from assemblies near and far for the funeral in Deseronto. He has gone to be with the One He loved and served faithfully.
The funeral was shared by Timothy Kember, Allen Madigan, and Murray McLeod with Eugene Badgley speaking at the graveside. The words of Nehemiah 7:2 come to mind: “He was a faithful man and feared God above many.”
